Archives for October 2011
A word about time…
Is this ordinary time? Each year, following Pentecost, the church calendar enters into a period affectionately referred to as “Ordinary time.” It is that season of church life for which there are no major liturgical holidays and it lasts until the first week of Advent. Although Advent is still a few weeks away, for some reason we seem to be in a state as a church that is anything but ordinary!
This is an extraordinary time! This fall we have seen new faces every Sunday with some Sundays’ visitors making up nearly a quarter of our congregation! Even more remarkable is that we are not seeing them only once! The people who visit our congregation on Sunday mornings and through our ministries throughout the week have clearly recognized the unique community that makes up this church. Being a part of this congregation at this particular moment in time is indeed extraordinary.
For such a time as this! This is a moment when we start to see some changes within the life of our congregation and are starting to get a sense of how God is calling us to be in the world. For the first time, we are blessed to have two very talented and enthusiastic field education students from the seminary, McLane Stone and Bryan Miller. Already, they have begun to dream and implement new ways of connecting members of our congregation with the ministries of love to which we are called.
It’s time for mission. One of our areas of focus for the year is formalizing our partnership with the newly formed Urban Promise Trenton. A few weeks ago during worship, Carl Clark, UP Trenton’s managing director, spoke to us about the way in which his organization is working to change the lives of kids in Trenton. They are sponsoring after school programs for younger kids and providing older kids with much needed jobs working for their program. We have already collected school supplies for the children of Urban Promise and will be working with them later this fall to begin to tutoring some of the children after school.
It’s time to be creative! We are trying our best to be creative with the resources and ideas that God has placed in our midst, but not everything that we are doing at this time is new. On November 13, 2025 we will be holding our Fall Arts Night. This is an event that we do twice a year (once in the fall and once in the spring) during which we invite people from the surrounding communities to come and share their artistic talents. There will be place for both the physical arts as well as performing arts. If you are interested in bringing in some art to be displayed (photos, paintings, bowls, knitting, pottery, etc.) or would like to participate in the live performance part of the program, please let us know as we would love to have you.
It’s time for visioning. In the last newsletter, we shared how the conference has designated us as a “teaching church,” and has begun to find ways of financially supporting us in our mission with young adults. Those conversations have continued to move forward and we have even managed to secure our first grant from the Sommers Foundation for next year. If you are interested in serving on the vision team that will help us keep our mission in focus as we make decisions about new ministries, please let me know as we would love to have all voices at the table!
Time is on our side. We believe in a timeless God who is with us in both the extraordinary and ordinary moments of our lives together. We have been around for 132 years and have found ways of continuing to serve God in the world during all of that time. Our hope is that in the years ahead we might continue to listen for God’s call and pay attention to the time!
Grace and Peace,
Stephen
Week 34 - Joe Kane
I guess I will start like most others that have shared their mission moment with us.
When Stephen brought up this whole feed more sheep thing, I had to stop and think how do I feed sheep? How have I fed sheep in the past, how do I feed them now, and how will I feed them in the future?
First of all, around our house it seems we feed a lot more than just sheep: there are the 3 cats, 2 dogs in the house then there’s the stray cats my wife feeds, the neighbor’s horse and goats and even the occasional fox eating the stray cat food on the front porch.
The past: The past was full of trying to raise kids, showing them right from wrong, how to share with others and how to love. There was also helping family and friends with their houses (it seems everyone was redoing their house at the same time). I would try and help with things that were happening in the community also, and then there was the church; there is always something that needs to be done at the church.
The now: Well, there’s still always something that needs to be fixed at the church!
We have our son Ryan’s girlfriend Jennifer (and her dog Charley) living with us while she finishes up with college, something that I must have picked up from my parents. You see when I was growing up it wasn’t enough to have mom & pop, my grandmother (granny) and 5 boys in a 3-bedroom house. No, we always had somebody else that was in need of a place to stay, from my brother Kevin’s fiancé to my aunt May. That’s why, when Jen needed a place to stay, it just seemed to be the thing to do. I feel working on the church and trying to keep the doors open (literally) allows the sheep to come and be fed. In my job as a road foreman I think of it in much the same way. Clearing the roads of snow or fallen trees allows other people to travel safely to feed the sheep that they are feeding. As for the potholes, life is full of potholes so get over it. But maybe I can fill a few of them also to pave the way for the sheep to go and find the food they need.
The Future: there is still something that needs to be fixed at the church.
In the future I hope I can continue to do what I am doing plus try and be better at public speaking so I can share with others how blessed I have been to have a wife and family that loves me, friends that care about me, but most of all I have the love of Jesus in my life.
October 2, 2026